Aburana
by Deji-Suta
Summary: this is a story about two OC's that... well, just read to find out. ;o ZoroxOC and LuffyxOC last chappy!
1. Chapter 1

Air rumbled as it left the cage of Zoro's mouth. Smiling at Zoro, De-Ji returned to her book. Hearing a yell from below, De-Ji's head snapped up, then a curious expression crossed her freckled face. Nami was shouting about something, and Luffy and Suta were voicing excited squeals, so it was probably an island. Lowering her head back to her book, and feeling Zoro shift against her, the smile returned to her face. Little did she know, that it was not an island, but an enemy ship approaching on their port bow.

The ship approached with a intimidating flag of snakes coming through every orifice of the skull. Nami shouted at Luffy, who was staring without the slightest care at the ship. Suta's eyes caught the sight of cannons lining the sides of the large ship. A cannon blasted out of one that had just passed under Suta's awed gaze and flew into the crow's nest. Nami stopped yelling at Luffy when the cannon ball exited cannon's hole and crashed into the highest room on their vessel. Then she started screaming upward, waiting for an answer, and receiving nothing. Zoro climbed up, spluttering from the water that had intruded into his mouth.

"Where's De-Ji?" Nami asked the still coughing swordsman. The green haired man looked up with a surprised look on his face, and answered,

"I thought she was down here with you!"Nami's jaw dropped, and Zoro and Nami ran over to the side of the boat, to see a net pulling up an incapacitated De-Ji and Suta, who had fallen in looking for De-Ji. Luffy, who had started attacking at the first cannon fire, was seen falling into the water, followed closely by a cursing swordsman and cook. The ship scurried off into the distance, disappearing into the horizon when Sanji and Zoro both climbed up carrying their rubber captain. Usopp and the rest ran outside, just barely missing the action.

"They ran just at the sight of the Great Captain Usopp!" The marksman said with a confident grin and gesture. Everybody gave him an 'oh brother' look. Regaining thought with each breath, Zoro finally remembered that De-Ji was missing. Nami hadn't remembered, because she was busy hitting everybody who did anything wrong. Which was everybody but Robin. Luffy, ran off recklessly. Franky, Usopp, and Chopper weren't there. Sanji, who was flirting again. And last was Zoro, who hadn't saved De-Ji in time. As Nami said this, a gasp resounded over the ship's deck. Then, the freaking out occurred. Luffy ran around screaming his head off, and even more so when he realized again that Suta was gone as well. Usopp was scaring Chopper of strange creatures snatching them out of the sky (also resulting in running around screaming), Franky was trying to make sure that they were really missing, and resulting in yelling because of the screaming. All of this, until…

"SHUT UP!!" Nami yelled. Huffing from frustration, she explained to everybody what she and Zoro had seen. Luffy immediately gave her the order to follow them. The navigator would have been happy to oblige, but she wasn't watching where they had headed off to. She had been paying attention to her captain falling into the water and sinking like a hammer. And, thanks to the fog that was closing in, she couldn't simply look for their ship.


	2. Chapter 2

De-Ji woke up in a strange room. Shaking from the wet cold that enclosed her, she opened her eyes and saw something strange. She was in a room full of girls. Suta was right by her, shivering. There were other girls too. All the girls seemed different. They all seemed to have nothing in common. There were black haired, mature women, and blonde haired young teenagers, and now a brown haired older teenager. A red-haired lady who looked around the age of 24 handed her some clothes. It was only a belly shirt and short shorts, though. De-Ji looked up at her questioningly, and got an answer of,

"Sorry, but that's all we have," The lady said. De-Ji grimaced, then glanced at her sister. The lady said, "we have to wait for her to wake up" De-Ji nodded, and shivered when a droplet of water dripped off her chin and landed on her skin. Standing up, she headed for the door, ignoring the protests, and tried to turn the knob. The door was locked. Of course. She wasn't thinking too well, having almost been drowned. She sighed, and asked everybody to turn around while she changed. They understood and turned around. De-Ji stripped, and considered keeping her bra, but it was full of water, so she decided against it and threw it on the ground. She put on the shorts, and turned around to grab the shirt when Suta woke up. They both screamed, which made every other girl in the room turn back around. Blushing like her life depended on it, De-Ji grabbed the shirt and dressed herself as quickly as she could. When she turned back around, Suta was holding a white almost nightgown looking piece of skimpy lingerie and shivering to boot. De-Ji took the few steps that separated her from the strange girls and turned around, facing the opposite wall, giving Suta the chance to change. Every girl in the room copied her and turned around. Soon Suta was done, and everybody went back to their previous positions. There was no furniture, which actually turned out to be a good thing because they had so little space, that it would be more of a hindrance than being useful. Sighing, De-Ji sat on the hard wood floor by her sister, and whispered to her,

"where are we?" Suta glanced at her and shrugged. De-Ji looked down and saw a bug. Not wanting to cause a ruckus, she smashed it with her wet clothes and hid it in the folds of the salty waterlogged pieces of cloth. Suta shifted, and De-Ji shifted again so she wasn't touching her. It was so cramped! De-Ji started getting chlosterphobic. She stood up and walked to a woman who looked about thirty with short spiky black hair. Tapping her on the shoulder timidly, she asked quietly where they were. The woman turned to look at her and answered,

"We're on Dokueki's ship. Do you know who he is?" She asked, and De-Ji shook her head. She had never heard of the man. The woman grimaced and responded to her own question, "He captures girls and.." trailing off for a little bit, obviously struggling with the next part. De-Ji looked around to see if anybody was listening. Nobody seemed to be paying attention, but it was so close quarters that everybody probably couldn't help but hear. Whispering, she finished, "rapes them."


	3. Chapter 3

Zoro tried to find the inner calm so he could think better. Which attacks to use, which one he would finish off whoever captured her. Luffy ran around, playing that stupid radio of his. Rubbing his temples, he walked to the front of the ship, and placed his hands on the rails. Luffy ran past him again, the radio blaring that annoying song, "lonely I'm so..." but was stopped abruptly when it hit the floor after Zoro's foot found Luffy's, making him trip and drop the hated radio. Maybe now his headache would finally go away. Gripping the rails in rage, Luffy stood beside him, tears running down his face. Zoro flinched away from the splinters that came from the railing as it exploded from the sheer pressure of Luffy's fists. Luffy looked down at his hands, then the railing. Walking off, he started pulling the little slivers of wood from his hands. Zoro shook his head and stared out at the horizon, wishing, no willing De-Ji to be ok. There was no hint of why he had captured her. But Zoro's imagination fixed that. It ran wild, uncontrolled. He tried to control it, but it refused to comply and kept running stories through his mind, making him all the angrier.

Luffy reached Chopper's new infirmary, wincing as he opened the door, leaving little smears of blood on the knob. Chopper looked up from the little bowl he was grinding powders in, making more rumble balls for the inevitable fight that he knew was coming. Chopper jumped down from his chair and pattered over to where Luffy was standing, shivering at the hate in his face and eyes. Chopper looked at his hands, and ran to get some tweezers and gauze for his captain. Luffy mindlessly walked over to one of the cots and sat down on one. He was numb except for the rage that seemed to burn his skull and heart. Chopper came back to find Luffy staring off into space with the same look that he had come in with. That face had been plastered strangely onto his visage ever since Suta was gone. He had kept himself preoccupied for a while with his radio, but it seemed that it was gone now. Carefully pulling out the shards of wood from his hands, he wondered what had happened, and decided it was better to not know. Finishing, Chopper wiped the blood from Luffy's palms and wrapped them in the soft gauze, and tapped Luffy's kneecap to try to get him out of his stupor. Luffy jumped, and looked around, then down at Chopper, thanked him sullenly and left. Chopper wiped the blood from the door handle, and closed it, not wanting to be around somebody that was so blue and on the edge of mass murder.

Luffy walked out, still seeming out of it, but his face brightened ever so slightly by the fixed radio Franky was holding out to him. Luffy took it, his eyes melting from their icy state just the slightest bit, and his finger pressed the play button. Walking around listening to his song, Luffy tried to take his mind off of Suta. Walking by Zoro, Franky heard a whisper saying,

"I hate you." Franky laughed a small grim laugh and walked on. Zoro sighed, and used his selective hearing to block out Luffy's song again. He looked down at the ground, and saw a carving. It was some runes that De-Ji must have carved, he recognized them from the time she tried to teach them to him, but he had fallen asleep. Jerking his head away, he walked around, making sure to keep away from Luffy.


	4. Chapter 4

Suta shivered in her sleep, the thin blanket not warm enough in the cool night air. Contorting her face, she rolled over. _Luffy was about to tag her, when a huge snake came up behind him and was about to bite him, when Suta let out a piercing shriek, and tackled Luffy to the ground, making the snake miss and hit the floor. Panting, she got off of Luffy to check if he was alright, to see him gaping in horror at the floor. Confused, Suta looked to where he was staring and saw a huge hole in the floor, the deadly result of the snake's venom. The snake, really mad now, lunged straight for Luffy. Not being able to react in time, Suta screeched when the giant fangs pierced Luffy's neck, blood pouring profusely from the gaping wound. _Suta sat up screaming, coming out of her dream. Suprisingly, nobody was awake. It was still night, but her scream should have woken them. Suddenly, the door banged open and a figure, his features hidden by the shadows, was standing in the doorway. The man stepped inside and called her name. She recognized that voice easily. It was one she would know anywhere.

"LUFFY!!" She screamed, relieved tears streaming down her face. Luffy grinned, then fell to the ground with a pained and surprised expression on his face. Suta caught a glimpse of a long slithering length of scales before she sat up again, gasping instead of screaming this time, from her sleep. Breathing heavily, she checked her sister and looked around, making sure she hadn't woken anyone up. Once she was sure nobody was awake, she fwumped back down onto the cold wooden floor, and tried uselessly to sleep.

_Zoro ran toward her, reaching for her. De-Ji tried to move, to reach back for him, but she couldn't move her body. Zoro fell, and De-Ji spotted a snake attached by it's mouth to his left calf. Getting up again and shaking off the snake, Zoro headed toward her again, limping and grimacing. The snake recoiled and lunged again, hitting him in the other leg. De-Ji screamed Zoro's name, but nothing came out of her mouth. Tears ran unheeded down her cheeks as Zoro once again got up, but fell. The poison was getting into his blood stream. He had to stop moving! De-Ji tried looking away, but she couldn't. She probably would have watched anyway. _A muscle in her arm twitched, waking her up. Breathing ragged breaths, she willed her heart to beat slower. Eventually it did. De-Ji looked over at Suta, who was halfway asleep, watching the door for some reason. Not wanting to expose her hands to the cold air outside of her blanket, she blew warm air into Suta's face, resulting in a glare.

Suta whispered, "what do you think will happen?" De-Ji shook her head and answered that she didn't know, but that she was sure that Luffy and Zoro would come for them. Not looking totally convinced herself, Suta had to add. De-Ji was sure, but it might have just been a hopeless thought of a girl who was about to be traumatized. Fighting the tears welling up behind her eyelids, De-Ji told herself that she had to be strong. Not only for herself, but for Suta as well. Not to mention Zoro. What would he think of her if she cried just because of this? That cleared her head, and she sniffed. Forcing her muscles to relax, she slipped into sleep after a while, leaving Suta awake. Suta watched De-Ji for a little while to make sure she wouldn't wake up again, but soon turned her attention back to the door. Eventually, she slipped off to sleep as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Zoro and Luffy lumbered into the kitchen, their faces blank. Everybody watched them go to their seats. The plates Sanji had placed were filled with food, but the two didn't seem interested in eating. Luffy stirred his food around with his fork, and stabbed a piece of meat. Instead of bringing it to his lips, he raised it to his eye level and gazed at it. Everybody murmured to their neighbor. Their captain not hungry? He was taking it harder than they thought. Sanji was prepared for this, though. He had gone through this before.

"Oi. You have to eat and have strength if you want to beat up their capturer, right?" came a soft sentence from the blonde cook, who was watching the two of them. They both turned around and looked at the cook for a second, then dug vigorously into the food placed in front of them. The rest of the crew took as much food as they could before the two ate it all, and set off into their meal as well. Halfway through the meal, Robin looked up at the green haired swordsman, who was borrowing the technique of stealing food from her, and her eyes caught his for a moment or two. What she saw chilled her to the bone. Rage and loneliness most of all. Then he had broken the connection and kept on eating. Shuddering for a second, and assuring the cook that nothing was wrong, she went back to eating. As soon as they were done eating, They ran outside to continue what they were doing. Watching the swordsman to try to talk to him when he paused in his training, Robin waited and read.

A couple of hours later, The swordsman put down his new, bigger weights that he had gotten at the last island, and walked to the railing and leaned on it. Robin took her chance, and placed her bookmark in her book, put it down and strolled casually over to the sweating man. Reaching her destination, she gazed out into the sea, seeming to ignore the swordsman who was watching her. With a smile, she spoke.

"Good luck, swordsman-san." Zoro watched her, in case she had more to say, and was about to reply, when suddenly Nami yelled.

"THERE'S A BIG STORM COMING!! GET THE MAIN SAIL UP!!" Zoro ran to hurry and get the ship ready for the storm, when it hit. Nami hadn't given enough warning! The winds pulled at the sails to the point where they were about to break, but they held thanks to the strong material Franky had used. The ship rocked violently, and Zoro was thrown to the side. About to fall off, he was saved by a link of hands that had sprouted out of the wood. The storm was so brutally strong that none of them could move from their life-saving chains of Robin's hands. The storm pushed their straining sails, shoving them to an uncharted island.


	6. Chapter 6

De-Ji woke up just before Suta, and stretched her sore limbs. Worst night of sleep ever. Suta groaned and sat up. The rest of the girls chuckled and a few said things like,

"you'll get used to it. We did."De-Ji glared up at them. How could they be so tame?! It was sickening. The girl with the orange hair came up to her and said,

"what do you want to do today?" looking at her with a look of disgusted amazement, she replied,

"escape, of course, " she ended there, not knowing how to finish. She was going to call the girl by name and then insult her, but she just realized that she hadn't learned any names. "What's your name?" she intervened herself.

"We've all decided that it's better that you don't make friends with the girls here. If you get attached, you'll get even more distraught than you already are." Shaking her head, De-Ji looked at all of them. Nobody knew anyone's name? That was ridiculous, but she had to admit that it was a good idea. She looked at Suta, who watched silently, muttering and grimacing every once in a while when a sore muscle twitched, aching to be moved. Suta, noticing De-Ji was looking at her, shrugged. Continuing on,

"Well, are we going to try escaping or not?" The girl with orange hair shook her head, sat down by Suta and said,

"We've tried. Many times, but we've obviously never found a way out." De-Ji turned into a hawk and retorted,

"well I bet you've never tried this!" and turned, and stuck a talon in the lock on the oddly gray doorknob. The girl with the spiky black hair grimaced and muttered to herself in the corner, something about breaking a fingernail. She tried turning the talon, but her energy drained out of her almost immediately. Falling backward, she couldn't catch herself. Landing on the hard wood floor, she grimaced as her muscles sent spasms of pain resenting her actions. The girl with short black hair answered the question in her head, almost like she could read her mind.

"That doorknob is made of Kairōseki." De-Ji sat up, regaining her strength and said,

"I noticed." She had encountered Kairōseki before, but not enough to recognize it at first sight. Suta sighed, and took one of her hair pins out of her hair. She looked at it, then walked up to the doorknob. She wasn't a thief, but she could probably pick the lock. Without touching it, she hoped. Sticking the hairpin in, she jiggled it around, but to no avail. The lock was too advanced for that little trick. The orange haired girl smirked at her and said,

"we've tried that too. Maybe you should try asking what we've tried. You might get farther." De-Ji and Suta glared at her and said at the same time,

"well what do you suggest?" The girl with orange hair answered them both, saying

"give up. There's no use." They refused to, however. However, before they could try anything, the doorknob jiggled and everyone heard the lock click open ominously. A small murmur passed through the room, the murmur was,

"it's Dokueki again. Wonder who will be chosen this time." De-Ji and Suta's eyes widened as the doorknob turned, oh so slowly due to the seemingly lengthened time.


	7. Chapter 7

The ship shuddered and screeched to a halt as it ran into the island. Everyone almost fell flat on their faces, but were saved by Robin's powers. The storm still raging, everybody held on to whatever they were closest to, trying to help Robin however they could. Opening his eyes to the wind, Zoro shrieked at it,

"GO AWAY THIS IS THE LAST THING WE NEED!!" The wind covered his shout with its piercing whistle. Zoro looked over at his captain, who was shouting wordlessly at the whipping wind. And, almost as suddenly as it started, it stopped after a few minutes, as if to comply with Zoro. The wind died, and the waves calmed as if it had never happened. Nami shouted orders. Zoro was sent to check out the damage. He looked around, but didn't find any holes or even cracks, surprisingly. The main sail was stretched, though. Getting off the ship, they set out to find a town and see if they could get a new sail, and find out where they were.

Zoro wandered along at the edge of the group. He usually stayed, but for some reason he had insisted on coming this time. They had left Usopp and Chopper to watch the ship as they walked off. Wandering through the trees, and making sure they still had Zoro with them, they came to a very large clearing, the edges of which looked as if it was being cleared out by humans. Tree stumps encircled the rest of the clearing, and there were men pulling them out of the ground. They looked up to see who it was, then silently went back to their work. The town beyond this strange sight appeared to have been ravaged. Gaping around them as they walked down the main street of the small town. The people in the town did the same as the workers on the outskirts, but the mothers put their arms around their children, and held them close until they had passed by. Luffy rushed off, seeing a sewing shop nearby, leaving everybody to follow, which they did. Brushing by each other to be in the store first, they somehow got in and Luffy was already asking the manager about helping them fix their main sail. Zoro looked around and saw a small child, probably the young manager's kid, hiding in a discreet corner of the store. Trying not to glare, Zoro motioned toward the child, trying to get him to come closer so he could ask him a few questions. The kid shook his head no, and tried to bury himself deeper into the corner he was sitting in. Zoro moved toward the kid, trying to not scare him, but only succeeding in a little ball of clothes and flesh mashed together. Chuckling, Zoro sat down by the kid and greeted him. Poking his little face out of the bundle, the child watched him curiously. Zoro didn't even try to smile. He knew that he couldn't. The kid ran his eyes over him, and finally spoke.

"What do you want?" he said in a rude tone. Zoro, not caring about the rudeness, hoped for a sufficient answer. Kids were smarter than some people thought they were.

"What happened here? Did you get raided?" The kid's eyes widened when their gaze fell on his katanas, but moved back to his face and answered,

"yeah, what of it? A huge jerk with a flag that has snakes coming out of the skull's eyes, mouth, and nose. He kidnapped my sister!!" The small child lunged at him, enraged obviously about his sister. Zoro dodged to side easily, letting the kid fall on his face due to lost balance. The adolescent sat back up and glared at Zoro. Zoro spoke again, saying,

"He kidnapped some of my nakama too. Do you know who he is?" The kid grunted, then answered again,

"His name is Dokueki. He kidnaps girls and..." glancing at his father before continuing, he finished whispering, "rapes them." Zoro's eyebrows tried to climb off of his face before he gained control of his muscles again. The festering rage inside him was born again, hotter and fiercer this time. He had to find her before.. that happened!


	8. Chapter 8

Suta watched the doorknob jiggle, and ignoring the murmurs that passed through the small room, dreading it opening. It did open though, no matter what she wished, and a large gruff man with a scraggly beard walked through the opening. Suta shivered as his gaze passed over her. His dirty shirt had a snake with venom dripping from the large fangs jutting out of its mouth, she noted. She could find him with that shirt anywhere, she bet. She had to remember that so she could find him later and kill him. The big man looked around, making some girls cowered backward and others stood defiantly in place. The girl with black hair cowered behind a taller one with blue hair, and the girl with the orange hair stood, not quite defiantly, but not backing off either. The man's gaze, Dokueki, they had called him, right? Passed to her, and paused. Licking his lips, he continued to the girl with the orange hair that was standing next to her. The girl glared back at him, her face looking like she was thinking, 'I dare you to try.' Dokueki gazed into her eyes, enjoying the expression that played over her face. He stepped forward through the pathway that opened, just ahead of where he stepped. Even the girls who were glaring at him moved aside when he came to them. The girl beside Suta stayed and glared right up at him. Her orange hair fell from her face as she tilted it upward to stare angrily into the face of her despised captor. Dokueki's big hand inched toward her face, then turned at the last second and stopped to rest on the girl's cheek. The girl winced, but other than that didn't move. Dokueki made a strange movement with his other hand, then turned and headed outside. A few of the girls stared anxiously outside, wishing to be free of the small cramped room that they had been trapped in for day. Two big men walked in right after Dokueki had turned around and grabbed the woman by the arms. Suta flinched away, and apologized for running into someone, and watched while the woman walked alongside the men, still in their hard grip. Tears were running down her face, and her chin was trembling. She was making little sobbing noises as she left, and almost nobody could stand to even look her way. Once the door was closed, and the lock had clacked securely again, the girl with black hair standing by De-Ji was blubbering. She looked away, disgusted. How could they stand to do nothing? Rage built inside her, but she could do nothing for lack of space. She needed to pace. Her legs were cramping up from staying in such a small amount of area for so long. Chlosterphobia was setting in, which she sometimes caught. She sat down, feeling worthless. She must have looked it too, because De-Ji came over and sat by her, nervously twiddling her fingers. She just sat there, but her company made Suta feel better. She wiped her eyes, which were beginning to get tears in them and stood up and walked to the door. They had to find a way out, which might mean maybe not through the door. As the idea formed in her head, she walked through the sea of girls to a wall. Summoning the power given to her by the devil fruit that she had eaten, Her eyes glowed a bright blue, the pupils disappearing, and then she used the combined strength of the different fruits combined in the one she had eaten, and pounded on the wall. It was at least three inches of solid steel, but there was a big dent after she had punched it. All the girls in the room gasped, and rushed forward. This might be a way to escape!

Outside, a guard was pushed out of place by a large lump in the wall. The guard's eyes popped out of his head, and he grabbed the key from his belt loop that it hung from and put it in the lock, and turned. The girls inside gasped, and there was a rushing sound as the girls moved back to their previous positions. The guard opened the door and looked around. Nothing seemed to have happened, but there was a huge dent in the wall, and a few of the girls looked a little happier than usual. He looked around suspiciously again, then walked back outside and locked the door back again.

Suta put her ear to the wall, listening for the guard. She heard a thump, which must have been his back bumping into the wall, and some grumbling about the captain needing to 'share the wealth'. Suta shuddered. The 'wealth' he was talking about was them. She could tell what was on his mind. Taking her head off the door, she turned around and thought out her next plan. She couldn't risk having another guard come through the door, unless she could convince everyone to overpower him, or them. It was too risky, and she didn't think the girls could be convinced to do it. They were already frightened out of their wits, and too scared to do anything about it. The only other alternative she could think of was to punch out a hole in the back, hopefully where nobody would notice. It was still risky, but then again when wasn't escaping risky? Sighing, Suta walked across the room to tell first De-Ji her plan, and discuss whether it was a good idea or not, then if it was tell the rest of the girls.


	9. Chapter 9

Zoro literally ran to Luffy, the urgent news pounding in his head and heart. Luffy was asking questions about the pirates, but was receiving no useful answers. The man obviously didn't want to get in trouble with them or something. Zoro pulled Luffy aside, ignoring the angry protests. Zoro explained carefully the situation. After it had been explained to Luffy, he grimly turned toward the rest of the crew and gave his orders. Zoro obeyed immediately. He knew the look on Luffy's face. He had seen it before when he was fighting strong enemies. Determination, grit, and strength were in his eyes. But there was something more this time. Something else was deep behind his eyes. Zoro recognized it, related to it. He didn't like to admit it, but it was love. Zoro ran with the rest of the crew to their ship. They moved out immediately, luckily they had learned enough from residents about where this cursed 'Dokueki' character was headed. Not to any specific island, but that was probably because he didn't want to be found. Not with his 'cargo' anyway. Luffy demanded impossible speeds, then retired to the top of the ship's head. His favorite spot. Everybody stopped in their tracks to watch him. He was just sitting their, but with his head down. They looked around at each other. Not wanting to be the one to help vent Luffy's wrath on himself, they hurried back to their duties, making the ship move at it's top speed. But it still wasn't fast enough. Once Zoro was done, he sat down. Closing his eyes, he let the wind batter his hair around his head. It felt strangely calming, reminding him of the time when De-Ji ran her feminine fingers through his hair. Angry, he jerked his head away from the memory and wind. He needed to find a place away from it. He stood up and aimlessly wandered the ship, forcefully keeping his mind focused on the task at hand. Room after room held memories, memories he couldn't deal with right now. Even Wado seemed to taunt him. Sighing, he looked up into the sunny sky, with a few puffy clouds roaming around happily. At least something was having a good day. Movement caught his eye, just under where he was looking and he looked down. His gaze rested on a pirate flag. Not pausing to take in the flag on top, he ran to Luffy. Luffy had already seen it and was in the middle of his gomu gomu no rocket. Zoro grabbed on, he didn't want to miss a fight.

Luffy looked down at Zoro, then sped off toward the ship. A few seconds, Luffy and Zoro smashed into the mast, breaking it. Luffy got up and brushed himself off, then gave a mighty war cry and launched himself at the attacking pirates. Barely taking time to differentiate pirate from ship, he threw punches everywhere. At some point in time, he heard a man cry out,

"CAPTAIN!!" Luffy must have punched him, sending him flying to hit the wall and knocked him out like a light. Zoro glanced toward the man and kept fighting. Finally the rest of the mugiwaras arrived and joined their two comrades who were fighting like the very demons from hell.

Nami stopped for a second, and let the pirates run by her, only to go flying by again by a powerful 'gomu gomu no pistol!' Barely anybody was fighting like Luffy, except maybe Zoro. Zoro wasn't fighting as hard as Luffy, but he was closer than all of them put together.

Usopp stepped back, barely dodging a person flying right his head. Looking at Zoro, who had 'oni giri'-ed him toward his direction, Usopp quickly looked back at the person, who was now standing up, only to fall as he just realized that he had been sliced. Usopp cringed as blood squirted out from his chest, right over his heart. Usopp turned to face his opponent again, to see that he had seen the same thing as Usopp had, and was frozen in place from fear. Grinning, he pushed him over and taunted him with,

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR CHALLENGING THE GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP!!" then laughed.

Sanji kicked the man's head who was approaching him with a short sword in hand, and twirled around to kick another one, but he hit vacant air. Pushing with his arms, he back flipped back onto his feet and looked around. All of his crew were huffing around fallen pirates.

Luffy raised his head and screamed out in outrage, and yelled out,

"WHAT HAPPENED?! WHERE IS THE REST OF YOU?!" Breathing heavily, he gazed into the graying sky and saw the flag. The great victor fell to his knees and asked Nami how long it would be until they found the slither butt's ship. Nami assumed that 'slither butt' was Dokueki, and said she didn't know. They could be anywhere. Luffy glared at the flag that was flying in the wind above his head. He looked around at the crew, which must have been loyal to their nakama, because they were all wearing what was on the flag's skull's head. A beanie hat, like the ones you wear in winter(or maybe you don't', I dunno). They were all knitted, and in bright colors that didn't match together. The captain's was the most ridiculous, with lime green and hot pink poka dots and stripes. It was so comical, Luffy started laughing. The crew sighed in relief to hear the familiar sound, and then they all started laughing themselves.

They all returned to their ship, and set off in different directions to continue their activities as if nothing had happened. Luffy went to Suta's room, however. He was looking for a little box that he had caught her playing with once in a while. She shoved it under her pillow once, when Luffy had been sent to fetch her for breakfast, and other places depending on where she had been. It was always in a different spot though. First he looked under her pillow, but it wasn't there. He looked in her drawers, blushing when he got to a certain drawer full of girly underclothes. He looked in her 'treasure box', or a box where she held things of important value. Why she didn't keep it in there, he didn't know but it wasn't there either. He was about to give up and walk out of the room, he stepped on a secret loose floorboard, and it leapt up and hit him in the face. Luffy backed up a step, one hand going up defensively into a fist and the other touching his reddened face, testing the level of pain in his swelling flesh. The board fell down again with a loud CLACK, and Luffy cringed. If anybody heard that, he would be in trouble going through a girl's room. But he supposed it would be worth the trouble. He felt like he needed something to remind him that Suta was real, something tangible. After rubbing his face a little, to help disperse the pain, he stepped on the board again, but keeping the pressure under his foot under control. The board came up about halfway, and Luffy grabbed it. Pulling it out of the ground, he tossed it aside, not caring this time about the noise, and peered into the floor under the board. There was a little space, and Suta's little music box was sitting snugly in it. Letting the smile melt onto his still throbbing face, he picked up the music box and ran outside to sit on his favorite spot. At first smiling at the box, and turning it in his hands, enjoying the simple feeling of something solid in his hands. Almost like feeling Suta under his fingers. He looked up at the sky when he felt something wet on his face, and saw no clouds. His smile had turned into a frown, and little drops of salty tears were running down his tears as his memory was filled with images of Suta. She was always so carefree, and now she was gone. But he was getting her back. Unclenching his hand to stop himself from hurting the box, he ran back to Suta's room and put everything back the way it was.

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just wanted to say, the chapters past this are a little repetitive, until the end XD. and if you don't like long chapters or something, I'm sorry. And sorry if I'm late again, I just get caught up in other stuff easily. Sorry!

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	10. Chapter 10

De-Ji's eyes were wide by the time she had heard all that Suta had to say about her plan. It was a good one, assuming nothing and nobody was on the other side of the wall. She had to admit that she was impressed by Suta punching through inches of steel though. She told Suta her opinion, and to tell the rest of them.

"You tell them! I had to come up with it!" Suta whispered fiercely to her. De-Ji furrowed her eyebrows and refused. It was her idea, so why should she have to tell all of them? Maybe it was just her, but Suta's reason sounded kinda stupid.

The girl with black hair was in the corner next to them, and overheard. Snickering to herself, she called everybody to attention.

"Okay, I might have a plan to escape with," She announced. De-Ji whispered to Suta, wondering if it was a good one, then she heard the rest. "Suta has a power to break down the walls, right?" Suta nodded, and the girl continued, "Well, she should punch through the back wall!" De-Ji's mouth dropped. She had stolen their idea! And to make matters worse, she was getting the glory for it! All of the girls were praising her brilliant idea and somesuch. De-Ji stuck her tongue out at all of them, and turned to Suta, who had a similar reaction. They both glared at the girl, but agreed to go along with her farce. Suta got everybody to stand against the opposite wall, then summoned her power again. De-Ji hated it when Suta did that. It always gave her bad memories of the first time she had used it, and couldn't control it. Her eyes glowed the bright blue again, and her arms almost seemed to bulge with muscles, then she moved almost with lightning speed as she battered at the wall, resulting in a huge dent. She paused for a second, shaking away the pain in her knuckles. Then she went at it again, with more success. Suddenly, a timid girl with blue hair who nobody had heard speak before said,

"Somebody's trying to open the door." De-Ji almost hadn't heard her, but fortunately did. She told everyone, and they were soon back in place. Suta's eyes slowly stopped glowing, and were just barely done when the knob turned. The guard came in again and saw the indentation in the wall. His jaw dropped, and he asked furiously,

"what happened?!" All the girls looked around at each other, and De-Ji came up with an idea.

"It's so cramped in here that the walls are coming apart," she said hopefully. The guard glared at her and replied,

"yeah right, but it doesn't matter. You can't escape." Laughing to himself, he closed the door tight again and locked it. All the girls sighed in relief and looked around. They all said that they didn't want to try it again so soon, and sat where they were. De-Ji located the small girl with blue hair, and thanked her quietly. The little girl smiled and blushed a little, then lowered her head. De-Ji went back over to Suta and sat down. There was no room to lay down, but she decided to take a nap. She needed to conserve her strength.

She was awakened by a knock after what she assumed was a few hours later. The girls scrambled around the door, obviously knowing what was happening. De-Ji thought they were going to rush the guard when he came in, and joined at the back. The door opened and the guard came in. De-Ji started to move forward, but managed to catch herself before she fell onto the girl in front of her. It was the girl with black hair again, and she looked back and sneered at De-Ji. De-Ji gave her an apologetic look without meaning it, then looked back again at the guard. He was handing out brown and green lumps of something that the girls were taking into their spaces. De-Ji moved slowly toward him, and saw that it was moldy pieces of bread. She grimaced, but took one. When she got back, she picked off the pieces of mold and ate it. It was pretty stale, but it had been a while since she had eaten and she needed the energy. A girl crawled over to her and asked for the moldy pieces. De-Ji agreed to give them to her, she hadn't wanted them anyway, but the girl was immensely grateful. Sighing, D-eJi watched Suta eat her bread.


	11. Chapter 11

Clenching his teeth, Zoro lifted the four ton weights again. Remembering what De-Ji had said about them refueled his anger and hatred. 'You'll sink the ship someday with your weights, ya know.' Zoro sighed, and ignored the sore muscles that were sending their little signals to his brain. Luffy ran past him holding something, but Zoro just ignored him. He dropped to the floor when he saw a salty tear left behind from Luffy. Luffy almost never cried. Rubbing his arms as he sat up, he decided that that was enough lifting for today, and layed against the wall to nap. Trying to focus on sleeping was harder than he thought when he didn't need it, and De-Ji filled his thoughts. Grumbled he turned over and tried again.

Luffy ran past again, rubbing his cheeks. Running back to the head of the ship, he stumbled, and felt the sick moment of emptiness, but caught himself and started running again. Not watching where he was looking again, he smashed into the wood of the ship. Looking up, he clambered onto the top and looked out at the sea, wondering where she was. What was happening? Sniffling, he wiped tears away again and looked around to see if anyone was watching. Nobody could see him. He had to be strong for his crew. He had hoped so hard that the ship they had beaten practically to death had been slither butt's. Sighing, he gazed out into the waves to watch for more ships.

Sanji sluggishly made snacks for his crew. He missed Suta and De-Ji so much... They viewed him barely as a friend, but he still felt for them. His blood boiled, and the glass fruit cup in his hand broke, making little streams of blood run over his palms. Sighing, he picked up the pieces of glass off the floor and cleaned up the blood, and walked out to find Chopper. Chopper was listening to one of Usopp's stories, his eyes wide and staring off into space, imagining the narration that Usopp was vocalizing. Sanji crouched next to Chopper, and lightly touched his shoulder. He screamed, and tried karate chopping him, but only succeeding in a laugh from Sanji. Chopper frowned at a little droplet of blood hanging on the edge of his palm, then grabbed his trouser leg and started heading off to his infirmary. Once there, he gave Sanji a painkiller, then wrapped his hand in clean white gauze. While he was working, he asked what happened. Sanji rubbed the back of his neck nervously, feeling stupid. He told Chopper however. When it was over, he was glad that Chopper didn't laugh, but instead just nodded. He understood how the crew felt. There were people around, but it still felt lonely.

Robin looked at the pile of books sitting on her nightstand. De-Ji had been borrowing them, but Zoro had returned them because they were taking up space in his room. He seemed reluctant to, but she suspected that he had left them with her because they were reminding him of her. She picked up the top one, which had been one of her favorites as a child. There was a slip of paper stuck in the space between two of the pages. She opened to it, and read a little of it to see where she was. She was right in the middle of Joan of Arc's crusades. There was a doodle on her bookmark. It was a simplified version of Zoro. There were also little hearts around him. She chuckled, then frowned again. This must be really hard on him. Shaking her head, she returned to her bed and her own book.

Nami sighed. It was quiet. Too quiet. She was always complaining about the noise, but now she missed it. Why? Because she was used to it, she supposed. It had been louder for a while, since Suta joined, and now it was dead silent most of the time. Even at mealtimes. Luffy ate his food, then tried to steal a few morsels, then left. It was heartbreaking to see her captain so depressed. She put down her quill pen and leaned back in her chair. Her maps could wait a few minutes. Suta was just like Luffy, so she hadn't hung around her much, but she was still a part of her crew. She had talked to De-Ji a few times. She was pleasant, if a few times hyper. She hung around Zoro like a puppy most of the time, as Suta did with Luffy.


	12. Chapter 12

A sound awoke De-Ji out of her light nap. It was the doorknob jiggling slightly. Somebody must be unlocking the door. She nudged Suta to wake up. A guard came in and announced that Dokueki was coming. All the girls stood up again, and secretly wished that it wouldn't be them. Suta and De-Ji stood next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. The man stepped inside and looked around, then laughed.

"Hmm.. they're all so hot… Which one do you think I should take, guard?" he questioned the guard. The guard became flustered and started looking around, and blood gathered to his cheeks due to his thoughts. Both of their gazes passed over De-Ji and Suta slowly, and landed on the black-haired girl. The girl swallowed nervously. The guard and Dokueki looked at each other, grinned, and nodded. The guard waded through the bodies of all the women, and grabbed the black-haired woman's arm. She tensed, but strangely didn't resist. She walked along the guard, her backbone straight and proud. Dokueki laughed, then escorted the girl out of the room. The guard sneered at the girls inside, then slammed the door shut. A sigh went through the room. De-Ji nodded to Suta, and Suta made a confirmation noise. She walked over to the back wall and started pounding on it again, pausing when the guard came in, suspiciously watching them for a while, then shutting the door again. All the girls in the room pressed against the other wall to give Suta a little room. It was slow work because of the loud noise that was made, making the guard check up on them way more than usual. Suta's eyes were glowing brightly, but she saw a small stream of light coming through a crack in the wall. The pieces of metal that held the room together were finally coming apart. She relinquished her powers for a bit, and called De-Ji to her side. She showed her the spot of light on the floor and the rivulet of light. A smile lit up De-Ji's face, then she turned around and showed everyone the light. A roar of joy filled the room, and escaped through the cracks in the door.

Outside, the guard heard a great bellowing from inside, and fumbled with his key, dropped it, picked it back up and put it inside the lock. The girls inside were too busy, and were making too much noise to notice him opening the door. He looked around and saw a crack in the opposite wall. So that's what they had been doing. A young girl, who looked about thirteen,was sitting in the corner smiling, turned at the new light behind and saw him. She gasped, and pulled on one of the women's shirts. The woman glared at her, annoyed that she had interrupted her merriment. The young girl pointed at him, and the older woman looked. The woman's eyes grew wide and she yelled out to everyone. Everyone stopped and looked at him. A blonde-haired girl who was standing by the whole in the wall, scooted over to cover the hole with her body, but it was too late. The guard had already seen it, and pointed out the door, accenting the gesture with the whip in his hand. The girls sullenly walked out, bitterness and hopelessness on their faces. De-Ji followed Suta outside, angry with their failure, and trying to think up a new way to escape. All the girls were led into another room, similar to the first, but a little bigger. De-Ji and Suta sat down and talked quietly.

"How can we escape now?" Suta asked De-Ji. De-Ji shrugged and sighed.

"However we do it, it needs to be quiet, and when the guards are sleeping or something. There's got to be another way out," De-JI said, not quite believing herself.


	13. Chapter 13

In the crow's nest, Zoro looked up, his neck getting a crick in it from looking down for so long. He was rubbing his neck when he saw a little shape in the ocean ahead of him. He walked to the window in front of him, and peered out for a better look. It was a pirate ship with a snake on the flag! It had to be Dokueki's ship, there was no doubt.

"OI! MINNA! SHIP AHEAD!!" Everybody ran to the bow of the Thousand Sunny-gou, and examined closely the flag. It had a snake on it. They all whooped with joy, and Franky went to put it in a higher speed. The Thousand Sunny-gou sped forward with everyone practically leaning over the side with impatience.

On Dokueki's ship, he had finished with the previous girl, and still felt like he needed an itch scratched. He chuckled and thought to himself, _I'll just get myself another girl._ He ordered the guard outside to get rid of the still-panting girl in his bed, then headed to the room without accompaniment. He thought he was safe enough. They were all too scared to try anything. He went to the room, and saw it empty. Roaring with rage, he ordered a pirate that was walking by to tell him where his beauties had went. The guard quaked, and answered him,

"They were moved because they were trying to escape, cap'n. They're in that room I think," He pointed to the spare room. With an evil chuckle, Dokueki pushed the pirate out of his way, and headed for the room.

Franky put the Thousand Sunny-gou in a slightly higher gear, getting her ready for a surprise attack on the pirates.

"Minna, brace for impact!" Franky warned everyone. Everyone turned around to look at him, then turned back again to grip the rail hard.

Dokueki's fist was gripping the doorknob, and it twisted. The girls inside wiped the tears of hopelessness from their eyes, and turned to face the door with cold faces. It opened, and their worst nightmare walked through the door. Dokueki scanned the room from side, and selected his next victim. She was a fierce looking blonde with blue eyes. He sneered at her, and she sniffed harshly and held her head up higher. He motioned toward her with a finger to come toward him. Her face hardened more, and she stepped forward. He beckoned again, and she took only one more step forward. Growing impatient, he motioned with his whole hand. Finally, Suta walked over to Dokueki, still holding desperately onto the hope that Luffy would come and save her. Ever step to Dokueki's quarters was torture. Step. Step. Step. They still had a ways to go…

Everyone was hoping fervently that they hadn't been too late. They were were gripping the rail until their knuckles were white _Just a little farther… Just a little farther…_

The door loomed in front of Suta and Dokueki. It was a large, thick wooden door that wouldn't let sound out. Suta swallowed, and Dokueki slipped a wring on her finger that was made of kairoseki. How much of this crap does he have? Suta thought to herself as she crumpled to the floor. Dokueki opened the door, and dragged in Suta.

Everybody turned to look at Franky with wide eyes when the ship wasn't slowing down. They were coming up too fast on the pirate ship. 5 meters.. 4.. 3.. 2.. Everybody squeezed their eyes shut, and waited. They didn't have to wait long, as the lion head on the Thousand Sunny-gou bashed into the back of the pirate ship. Splinters flew as the crew kicked into gear and ran onto the ship, taking down random pirates. Zoro knocked down a door, and girls streamed out of it. Panting, he looked around for De-Ji, trying to not cut any of the women.

"DE-JI!! SUTA!!" he called out, desperate to find them. Luffy looked around for a little bit, but there were none with blonde hair, so he kept smashing open doors, letting Usopp and the others take care of the rest of the pirates. Zoro kept looking through the crowd.

De-Ji looked up. Was that Zoro? No, it was probably her imagination or a dream again. She looked away, then down, covering her eyes with hair and hands to hide the tears in her eyes.

Suta couldn't resist. Dokueki had looked around when the ship had shaken hard, but now he was touching her. All over, she shuddered. Dokueki chuckled to himself and licked his lips. Suta secured her eyes shut. This couldn't be happening. It had to be a nightmare or something. A tear leaked out from beneath one of her lids, and a raucous laugh erupted from Dokueki's throat.

Luffy looked around. There was only one more door. Huffing, he ran to the door and banged on it. It jiggled. Invigorated, Luffy pounded harder and harder on the door. Past the loud shouting and clanging of the battle, he heard a surprised shout.

Inside, Dokueki muttered to himself that he needed to hurry. He rubbed Suta's cheek, then moved his hand to his zipper. The door opened. He pulled down his zipper. A kid bursted through the opening, a straw hat flying off his head, but fell to his back, held by a string around his neck. With a guttural yell, he pulled back his arm, farther than was normally possible, and it sprang forward for Dokueki's face.

"SHE ISN'T HERE!!" Zoro screamed into the air. De-Ji put her hands over her ears to block out what she thought was her mind playing tricks on her. Nami, being done with beating the few pirates that were on the ship, looked through the crowd who were whooping and dancing on and around the bodies of the beaten pirates. There were some girls with brown hair, but none of them were De-Ji.

Dokueki held up a big chunk of kairoseki in front of him just in time for the rubber hand to collide into it, then limply thump onto the floor, and slithered back to Luffy's arm. He shook his hand and glared at the man. He looked past him to make sure Suta was ok. She was lying on the bed with her eyes closed still.

"Oi, Suta. Are you ok?" He asked her. She opened her eyes timidly, scared it was another dream. She had dreamed that he would save her every time she closed her eyes. Luffy was peering at her from behind of her captor.

Nami yelled toward Zoro, but the girls were being too loud. She grabbed Usopp, who was being bombarded by happy girls, by the back of his overalls and whispered in his ear. Usopp nodded, and pulled out a missile out of his bag, and fired it. It went straight to Zoro's head, and the rotten egg splattered against the back of his green hair. Turning around, he yelled to the crowd,

"WHAT THE CRAP WAS THAT FOR?!" A few girls stepped out of his path, and he saw Nami pointing to a room. It was the room he had opened and released the cacophony from. He looked in again, and saw someone sitting in the room, with their face hidden in their arms and behind their knees. Not quite daring to hope, he walked slowly toward the figure.

With eyes watering, Suta nodded. Luffy grinned, then grunted, signaling that he was going to beat the guy up. Luffy turned his attention back to the big man in front of him, who was yelling something about being ignored. He chucked the piece of kairoseki, but Luffy easily dodged it, and lunged forward.

"GOMU GOMU NO… GATLING GUN!!" Luffy cried out, then what looked like countless hands pounded into Dokueki's body, sending blood spraying out of his mouth. He choked and took a step backward, and wiped his mouth with a hand. Then, he put up his hands in front of his body, his hands in fists. Luffy grinned and went into the same position, and was about to attack again, but Dokueki fell to the ground. Luffy looked to Suta, who was now sitting up with her legs crossed in front of her. Sunlight glided through the sandy strands of hair that floated on her head in a breeze. Her blue eyes were flooded with happiness and relief. Luffy leaped the last few steps, and glomped her. They both blushed, then Luffy kissed her on the forehead. Suta bit her lower lip, then fully kissed.

Zoro was standing still in the doorway. His knees wanted to quiver, but he stopped them. He walked into the room, letting his stealthy nature take over his feet. De-Ji heard his footsteps faintly, and recognized the rhythm of them. Her eyes flew open, and waited. She couldn't breathe. Was it really him? Zoro knelt before the girl. The hair looked like hers, a brown that reminded him of mud after rain with ever-so-slight gold streaks that you could only see in sunlight. He pushed a strand of her long bangs aside, behind her ear. She looked up. Molten pickles greeted his eyes. De-Ji stared into the bottomless grey of her Zoro's eyes.

"Z..Zoro? is it really you?" She asked. He blinked and nodded. Relief flooded her, and she jumped up a little and threw her arms around his shoulders and neck. She turned her head and looked at his moss-green hair. She krinkled her nose at the rotten egg, and turned her head away from it, then took in a deep breath. His clean, yet sweaty, scent came through the white cotton. Zoro put his arms around her body, thankful to feel her again. They both pulled away to look each other in the face again, then at the same time, they leaned forward to kiss.

After a while, Nami interrupted the two couples so they could all go back to the ship, which was undamaged because of the rotten state of the pirate ship's hull. Everybody headed straight to the kitchen. Everybody was hungry. Sanji started cooking away, flirting as always and twirling around his cooking utensils, showing off his skills. Suta's and Luffy's stomach growled, and they laughed and started goofing off with Brooke. Nami let them for a while, before they started getting way too loud, so she bonked them on the head. Usopp was telling Chopper one of his tall tales, and Robin and Franky were watching the whole thing. Everything was back to normal. De-Ji smiled and rested her head on Zoro's shoulder, glad it was finally over and everything was back to normal.


End file.
